Alexander Zverev is out to make the quarterfinals of the Shanghai Masters for the first time as he faces Alex de Minaur in the round of 16 on Thursday.

London hopeful Alexander Zverev takes on Milan hopeful Alex de Minaur for a place in the quarterfinals of the Rolex Shanghai Masters.

Zverev, currently at fifth place in the Race to London with the four players above him all qualified, must reach the semifinals in Shanghai in order to qualify this week but he has fallen in the round of 16 on both his previous appearances in Shanghai: In 2016 to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga after beating Marin Cilic, and in 2017 to Juan Martin del Potro.

Zverev and de Minaur before they clash at Davis Cup (Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)

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While Zverev’s Grand Slam record continues to leave a little to be desired – he has made just one quarterfinal so far, at the French Open in 2018 – he continues to thrive at Masters 1000 Series level with three titles already to his name, more than any player outside the ‘Big Four’. This season, Zverev has made the quarterfinals or better at five of the year’s seven Masters 1000 Series events so far, winning the Madrid Open, finishing runner-up in Miami and Rome and making the quarterfinals at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters and at the Canada Masters.

Zverev returned to ATP World Tour competition last week in Beijing, but his campaign at the first official event he had played since losing to Philipp Kohlschreiber in the third round of the US Open did not go to play as he suffered a shock defeat to Malek Jaziri in the third round of the China Open.

But the German bounced back strongly in his opener in Shanghai, when he beat Nikoloz Basilashvili – the man who ended up winning that Beijing title when he beat Juan Martin del Potro in the final – 7-5, 6-4 to start his campaign at the penultimate Masters 1000 Series of the year.

‘I played all right,’ Zverev said. ‘I played a solid match. I did everything that I needed to win. Focused a lot, focused on my game.

‘[…] I'm a little sick right now, so feeling a little bit low energy, but I hope it will get better over the next few days.’

More or less everyone is a bit the worse for wear at this point in the season, but it’s unfortunate that Zverev is feeling a bit low on energy – because that seems like the one thing that one is definitely going to need when facing Alex de Minaur.

While Zverev focuses on trying to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals, de Minaur has his eyes firmly set on qualifying for the Next Gen ATP Finals, for which he is currently in fourth place (effectively third, as Zverev tops those rankings but will almost definitely be playing in London, not Milan).

Alex de Minaur (TOSHIFUMI KITAMURA/AFP/Getty Images)

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Only Zverev, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Denis Shapovalov, of those aged 21 and under, have more points accumulated this year than de Minaur, which suggests how successful his season has been so far. Few outside Australia had particularly heard of the teenager before this year, which began with the youngster – then ranked outside the top 200 – making an impressive run to the semifinals of the Brisbane International as a wildcard, beating Milos Raonic on the way, before following it up by making his first ATP World Tour final in Sydney, finishing runner-up to Daniil Medvedev.

De Minaur went on to win the Nottingham Challenger and finish runner-up at two more Challengers in Surbiton and Alicante before winning his first Grand Slam matches at Wimbledon, where he made the third round. He went on to make the second ATP World Tour final of his career at the 500-level Citi Open in Washington, D.C., beating Hyeon Chung and Andrey Rublev on the way, and reached the third round of the US Open, too. Most recently, he made the semifinals of the Shenzhen Open.

Defeated by Tsitsipas in three sets in the second round of the Japan Open last week, de Minaur comes into Shanghai ranked world no. 33 – quite an achievement for a player who was outside the top 200 at the start of the season. The Australian, still just 19 years old, booked his place in the third round with wins over qualifier Vasek Pospisil, 6-4, 7-6(4), and Benoit Paire, 6-4, 6-3.

‘He's had a fantastic year. He's nearly top-30 and obviously playing great tennis, as well,’ Zverev said of de Minaur.

‘I played him twice this year. Once was a very tough match in Davis Cup, which went to a very long five sets [and] the other one was in the Washington final where I played great. Obviously, it's not going to be an easy match, especially on this surface. I'm looking forward to it.’

As Zverev alluded to, this will be the third clash between himself and de Minaur, having battled for five sets in Davis Cup all the way back in January and won handily 6-2, 6-4 in Washington in August. Conditions in Shanghai, where the courts are playing fast, should be different again, but one feels that it will play into Zverev’s hands, given that he has a bit of a power advantage – especially on the serve – over the scrappier, more agile de Minaur.

Zverev vs de Minaur Shanghai Masters third-round tennis is live from Shanghai on Thursday at 1pm local/6am BST

*Geo-restrictions apply; funded account required or to have placed a bet in the last 24 hours to qualify

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Zverev vs de Minaur tennis live streaming, preview and predictions – London and Milan hopefuls clash in Shanghai Masters third round

Alexander Zverev vs Alex de Minaur live streaming, preview and predictions for the Shanghai Masters third-round match on Thursday 10 October 2018: Can quick courts in Shanghai help Zverev reach the quarterfinals for the first time?